New Delhi, Nov. 26 -- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday (November 25) called New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani the "leader of the Democratic Party," praising his campaign and noting the significance of his Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.

Speaking to CNBC, Bessent said: "I was in the room, and I think that you've got to have some admiration for a candidate who ran a campaign the way he did. It was a great, great campaign."

He emphasized Mamdani's rising influence in the Democratic Party: "He is clearly the leader of the Democratic Party now. And I think it speaks to how open-minded the president is, that he invited him into the Oval."

Bessent noted that some prominent Democrats did not endorse Mamdan...